Andy Chase

I attended my first "cold call" jam last night at the Black Sheep Deli in Amherst. I went to a bluegrass slow jam earlier this year, but being a slow jam it was more or less a given that the atmosphere would be friendly and non-intimidating. I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into the Black Sheep last night.

Somebody at the Fretted Instrument Workshop told me about the weekly Thursday night session over a year ago, but I had not gotten around to checking it out until last night; work would get in the way one week, fatigue the next, and there was also an overall element of trepidation. It seems like the only jam experiences you read about in online forums are the negative ones, which makes the prospect of sitting down with your instrument in a room full of strangers rather intimidating.

I needn't have put off going for as long as I did... The group at the Black Sheep is great - the format is old-time, and very informal; there's no rolling of eyes when somebody doesn't happen to know a tune or flubs a melody, and people seem to be there just to have a good time and play music.

I need to get some new strings on my SS-10 and brush up on my songs in double-D tuning.

Tagged:

• banjo
• frailing
• oldtime
• jam
• amherst
• music
• massachusetts